[Nocturnes Office] Questions and Answers

"That's it? Not going to even try to explain yourself?"

"Explain what, exactly?" He retorted, eyes narrowing. Nocturne was famously known for "heroing efficiently." Quickly making assessments and judgements were what kept him a prominent top ten hero for so long, longer than Strive's decade run as number 1. The worst part of Serena's was her feelings were clouding facts. He never chased headlines. He was brutally judged from the moment he put a cape on. Claiming a Hero group called the Neoyakuza? Time would force him to have to rebrand the agency into the Dusk Agency. She was there for that. She was there for team missions, saving people and aiding detective investigations. She was his first intern, and had seen the wins, losses, and struggles that the team went through. The glory of building a full roster including multiple interns... She was there for that. He told her what they would do, and delivered on all fronts...

If one major mistake was all it took for her to want to quit on him, who was he to beg her to stay? Loyalty was a hill Yoo died on. He had taken lives and witnessed people die over such a thing in his childhood. It wasn't a thing to be taken lightly, emotions involved or not. He could feel a pain building in his chest. It had been there since the broadcast, but had it been worsening especially because it was her? As Flynn stated and as he oh so dreaded the fact, he was human, and humans made mistakes. They had an understanding, at least from what he thought... 

"I had faith in you, I trusted you!" Serena's voice broke a bit, then she took a deep breath and let it out slowly "and as usual, I made a mistake. You're just like the others after all, if this had been 10 years ago it could've been me trapped with that bomb, begging for a hero, and you'd have been no different than any of the heroes who turned their backs on me back then."

Daggers... His dead eyes, and exhausted expression tightened into a scowl. This wasn't one of his usual "having a good day scowls," but one fueled by actual anger. At himself more than anything... The radiating rage made his shadow flare, a dark outline appearing around his person. "Being a hero comes with the weight of people's lives. An indisputable fact that stands as each of us put our capes on. Are you to treat yourself the same way if you run into a situation similar? " By this time everything behind him was becoming pitch black. The hallway behind him turned into a black pit. Even the hallway behind Serena was slowly getting plunge. They'd sit in an isolated space. No one needed to hear Serena's answer, beside Yoo himself. He'd inhale deep and ask. "Do you assume I think this is some game... -Something I haven't baked 20 years of my life on... Do you assume I do this for fun? Coming from the background I come from... Are you to tell me I'm just like the others, even though you've watched and participated in so many good things? Are you tell me that year meant nothing to you? Are you to tell me all that I've gone through and achieved amounts to NOTHING over one girl's death? That everything I stand for is in question?" He had a hit placed on him by his own family when he declared to become a hero. The man had done so much in the shadows, just the get the chance to put a cape on and stand alongside other heroes. For some reason, his mind sat on his conversation with Koneko and her quitting being a hero. Then to Kako, and finding those withdrawal forms in the system. 

If she were bold enough to question him in this manner, she'd need to be bold enough to withstand his emotion. He'd been holding things in for so long, and this was only a tiny morsel of what he wanted to release... -what he wanted to scream at the world. In this void, Serena would have the floor to respond however she saw fit. No one would be able to see or hear what was being said at this point. 

Nocturne calmed himself in a breath, as obvious as it was through his nose. The only reason it came out that way was because he was still restraining himself a great deal. If he didn't temper himself, the words would have been a lot sharper. He bit his tongue to allow her to speak. Such a naïve viewpoint. She'd end up bashing her head into this very situation. Saving absolutely everyone was an impossibility. Any hero who had been doing this for a while would come across their first death. It was the thing that made being a hero real in a sense. For Nocturne, he'd faced this far before being a hero even crossed his mind. With the last name Ryuujin, death was common whether on the dealing or receiving end. Going through his own trauma? No, he was fine! Therapy for what? 

"Everything in the past year has changed me for the better, I learned so much, and helped a lot of people. But I can't make mistakes like you did. I have to be better. I have to be... and I don't think you can teach me to be. Not when we're so much alike, and not when I can see you're fighting your own demons still so clearly. " Serena said "I can't learn to be who I need to be from you. I knew that deep down for a while now... but this just proves it."

She could ask any teacher, and they'd likely have a story about a death they couldn't avoid. She was asking for something that didn't exist. Children were pure that way... It was the only thing about being a teacher that he detested. He was far too stained and worn to go along and pretend with unrealistic ideals. On top of that, she already was showing herself to be a quitter, another thing he detested. The hallways would slowly lighten up, as the man stared at the ceiling toiling over a decision in his head, rather pushing his feelings back down. Feelings weren't needed here. It was his own fault for being so invested in this for it to hurt him this badly. Hadn't she asked him to present a fatherly figure? If it meant leaving this easily... like his own family, his wife. Perhaps that's where this pain was originating from, at least as it pertained to Serena. He couldn't accept anything less than cutting the tie off completely and washing his hands of her. As his gaze returned to hers, his expression returned to the muted one from earlier. Unlike before there was far more clarity.  "Understood. We can go to how things were before you interned for me." He'd begin his stride away from her, and out of this building. This hiatus was going to teach him plenty. There was so much to figure out...

He'd go ahead and free himself off the box in his hands and drop it into his shadow. With free hands, he'd pick up a phone call from the very last person he wanted to hear from. 

"Well, cousin... you're a hot topic. I'm not here to rub things in and say you're dad was right, BUT I would like to cash in on those few favors the you owe me."

Nocturne would snap the phone in half and toss it into the garbage can. ~Why now? FUCK!~